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May 31 Pac-Man for 360.Remember Pac-Man? If not, you should probably consider introducing your temple to a power drill. That cheery suggestion aside, Pac-Man is on its way to the Xbox Live Arcade, and we've got the details. Don't expect anything drastic; this is classic Pac-Man through and through. However, there are online Leaderboards and Achievements. So, in addition to its simple gameplay, you'll get to see the astronomical levels to which scores can rise, and consequently how badly you suck in comparison. The game gives you the ability to switch when you earn extra lives, as well as the number of starting lives. Switching options from the default setting will, however, prevent your high scores from being loaded into the leaderboards. In HD, the game looks like Pac-Man. Around the play area are graphics of the hungry yellow fellow in six poses, but they're merely a static visual garnish. The Man's movements can be controlled with either the control pad or the left control stick. No buttons necessary, seeing how you're just munching dots, ghosts, and the occasional food item. Fans of the classic will be glad to hear all the original's sounds as well, including the unforgettable death effect. In terms of pricing, the game cost 400 Microsoft Points ($5 USD) on our debug unit's Partnernet, though this could change whenever the retail version is released. We felt during our playtime that the XBLA Pac-Man's controls were somewhat imprecise, however. The controller made some of the tight turning required for Pac-Man somewhat awkward, though over time it may become less of an issue.
May 25 Microsoft updates Xbox Live !!!Ever since the November 22, 2005 Xbox 360 launch, gamers have been exposed to Microsoft's slick, bladed interface, Xbox Live Arcade, Marketplace, and the actual gameplay functionality of Xbox Live itself. The top-down subscription network will see a big update next week when Microsoft deploys a huge new upgrade, enhancing dozens of sections to the interface to make it easier to use, faster, and more functional. As part of Microsoft's plans to constantly grow and improve Xbox Live and the thriving economy it's created, the company will update the system twice a year, in spring and fall. Next week's deployment (Microsoft wouldn't pinpoint an exact day) will be its first big spring cleaning, which will affect three major areas of the system, Xbox Live Marketplace, Media, and general usability. In other words, based on user feedback, criticism, and input, Microsoft's 70-person development team fixed a bunch of things and made user functionality smarter and faster. The automatic update will take place when you connect to Xbox Live and takes approximately one minute to download.
In the Marketplace, gamers will now find new categories for downloads. So, if you want to differentiate a movie from a game download, it's now easier. Download sections are clearer: you'll find games, media and entertainment, demos and game videos, and themes and game pictures categories, as opposed to one section for downloads and then a confused search thereafter. Also under the marketplace menu, you'll also find a new menu link called Active Downloads. Guess what that means? You'll be able to queue up to six different, be they movies, game demos, or themes. The download feature is niftier than that. You can have six downloads queued up and play a full retail or Xbox Live Arcade game simultaneously without interruptions or slowdown, according to Microsoft. You also can prioritize the order in which you download the items mid-stream, if you want to. Finally, if you want to play a multiplayer game, the downloads will automatically stop and pick up when you finish playing online. Nifty. New functionality has been added to movie and game trailers, too. Once you've downloaded a flick, you can get to the actual movie one step quicker, since Microsoft eliminated a menu in the process. You can now go straight to watch the movie and control it with fast forward, review, pause, stop, and play options with the 360 or the universal remote controller. We watched the Halo 3 trailer being downloaded, played, fast-forwarded, etc. Microsoft also added bookmarking functionality to movie playback -- though that functionality is always on, requiring players to manually turn it off. Xbox Live Arcade games will be better organized. When you go to download a game, a new header, Newly Released Downloads, enables you to see the most recently released available games. You can also search by choosing an "All" category, or by selecting Arcade Game by Genre (which is more familiar). Once a game is downloaded, you can go directly to the game to play, as Microsoft has again eliminated a step to get you to play that game faster. That's important because previously, the game was often a little hard to find once it had been downloaded. Changes to the Media section might send little shivers of relief up your spine. Music is now seamlessly integrated into your desktop to such a degree that you can now play the music of your choice while playing a game with fiddling around. Microsoft demoed the functionality to us by using a CD with the song "Big Pimpin'" and playing Geometry Wars Evolved simultaneously. HAWT. Basically, your choice of music overrides the in-game music. You can also choose to have your music override movie or game trailer music, too. The new update has many built-in uses for the upcoming USB Camera, due to ship this September. The first game to use the camera is the Xbox Live arcade game UNO, but Ubisoft's Rainbow Six: Vegas enables players to map their face onto an in-game character (like Neversoft first did with Tony Hawk's Underground). World Series Poker also uses the camera and several additional Xbox Live Arcade games will use the camera. Microsoft stressed other notable games will make use of the camera, though it wouldn't reveal which ones. We'll just settle on speculating that perhaps Gears of War, Mass Effect, Too Human, Forza 2, and maybe even Viva Pinata will possibly use it. Finally, and most importantly, Microsoft fixed the start-up functionality. Now, if you have left a disc in the system and boot it up, there's an option to go straight to the main desktop, as opposed to automatically (and frustratingly) launching the inserted game. You won't have to stop the game, and then switch to the desktop. Next week's spring update is filled with dozens more additions, such as the ability to see the battery charge level of a backward compatible game on the Guide blade, easier to find themes, and more. Xbox Live Due For UpdateMicrosoft's Xbox Live service is due for repairs, said a post on the Xbox message board today. The user went hunting through Microsoft's support Web site today and uncovered several links to planned updates. The updates include active downloads, which will allow you to play games, watch movies or hang out on the dashboard while you download content. Gone are the days of staring at the progress bar inching to the right of your screen. Also, probably due to the requests of 360 users everywhere, the 360 will now have an option to boot directly to the dashboard, even if a game or movie is already in the console. Reportedly, you can toggle this option on or off, which is a small yet welcome change. MS also has plans to update DVD playback but the post does not go into detail on future change. We are going to go ahead and assume that you will still be able to play DVD movies. These changes were slated to be released for download May 23 but no patch or update has been released. We can only assume that a patch will be released this summer. MS isn't ready to shed light on the subject, however. The links to the support pages have been taken down and no one was available for comment at press time. May 22 GRAW: 3 new map pics.Hey guys,
I just got 3 new pics of the new GRAW MP maps, Wharf Day, Shipping Port, & Jungle Mines. This 3 maps will be in the new GRAW download/patch, this pics are comfermed to be "REAL" by one of GRAW's Dev "Serellan".
 Halo 3 Multiplayer Up and Running!!
According to a recent post on Bungie's weekly update, a test version of Halo 3's multiplayer modes is already being played. The post stated, "Lars, one of the new(er) multiplayer designers, has a regular multiplayer test in session now - that happens every day - and with surprisingly polished-looking graphics, although I'm told a lot of the textures and decorator objects are just placeholder at the moment. Could have fooled me." That was posted by Frankie, community manager over at Bungie. This leads us to believe that Halo 3 is in fact much further along than Microsoft let on at E3. Frankie went on to say, "The multiplayer test lab is still packed full of old-school 4:3 480i NTSC TV sets, which tells you two things. One is that we're making sure this game looks awesome on non HD sets, and two, that there is always a crazy rush to get to the sets that are HD during those sessions."
It's certainly good news for the many Halo 3 fans out there, and even better for those without HDTV sets. May 19 Gears of War on MTV2If you haven't seen or heard of Cliff Bleszinski yet, you haven't been paying attention. He's tried to get on your radar. He appears at every single game show ever, he's always out partying during big gaming shows, and you can always find him demoing one of the most anticipated games of the year, Gears of War. In case none of those things work for you, no worries. CliffyB, as he's better known, is heading to MTV2. Yep, he and his team at Epic are going all rockstar on us. Geeks on TV! What's this show all about? Created by the guys that produced Project Greenlight, Gears of War: The Race to E3 on MTV2 is a six-week undertaking that brings TV viewers behind the scenes at Gears of War, Microsoft and Epic's third-person tactical sci-fi shooter (due this fall). The show premieres at 10 pm, Eastern Time, Friday, May 19 on MTV2. It will also show on these dates:
We spoke with CliffyB today to get a feel for what the show will be like and what kinds of details we're likely to see on the feature. He revealed several little previously unknown tidbits, from vehicles in the game, to Anya, the sidekick, sequels, and possible other media on which Gears of War might appear.
IGN: What's this whole MTV thing all about? CliffyB: I've always watched Project Greenlight. I'm a big fan of their work, and this whole thing was kind of serendipitous. We wanted to get this on TV, on Xbox Live, on all those broadband channels, and give people a chance to see what it's like to make games. It's not just sitting around playing games. I have moments every day when I sit at my computer and I'm bored as hell. But I also have times when I'm raging at parties, having fights with my girlfriend, I'm raising a puppy, and moving into a condo, all this while trying to prep for E3. It was freakin' wild. IGN: What were some of the most awkward moments during the film shoot? CliffyB: The whole thing took six weeks to film. The first week was the most awkward. Once I got past the notion that the camera wouldn't leave me alone, I just forgot it was there. My most awkward moment was when I broke up with my girlfriend damn near on camera. We've been together for a year, and I had so much on my plate, especially getting this game ready or E3. We broke up, and we made up. I told her how much she meant to me, and that I needed her at the show, by my side, and how much that meant to me, and we got back together. IGN: What were some of the best moments of the shooting? CliffyB: Peeling out in my friend's Lamborghini and doing donuts in the Epic parking lot. That was great. Almost gave [the owner] a heart attack. IGN: Do you watch MTV? CliffyB: Yeah, I have it on the background pretty much all the time. I think this show will be like American Chopper with geeks. Whether the world finds it interesting or not, I don't know. But the work MTV did is going to be entertaining and intelligent. You know, we're not just creating a great game, but a great IP. Gears of War won't just stop at the game. We have a lot of plans for this game beyond just the first title; this is just the beginning. IGN: What kind of access did you give MTV? CliffyB: We gave them unobstructed access -- apparently there is a sequence about the end of the game, and a bar of soap. I hope they don't put that in there. You'll get to see a first look at your sidekick, Anya. During the six weeks her breasts went from pretty small to heavy metal triple D cups, and we had to tone them down to be more realistic. They caught plenty of level walkthroughs, footage with vehicles; there will be some good s^%$ in there. IGN: Did they capture the essence of working at Epic Games? CliffyB: Yes, absolutely. MTV captured the essence of us making the game. They caught us going to the airport, me getting nervous backstage at the news conference, they caught me with talking with Bill Gates, givin' each other s&^%, all sorts of stuff. It's pretty amazing. It's a 22-minute piece, but they shot six weeks of footage. All the guys on my team are there too. I want people to know what our jobs are like. You know? I mean we play this game for two years and it's broken and unfun. It's that way until it's no longer broken and unfun, and then we give it away to everyone else. IGN: Do you have any regrets? CliffyB: Well, they shot it on a weekly basis, so I could have shaved more often. And worked out a little bit more. (laughs.) You know, everyone is going to see us in fabulous HD glory. They're probably going to see right up into my nose. I could have used more botox. Yeah, definitely more botox. (laughs.) No really, we're flattered and honored to be on this show. It'll be like Eighth and Ocean with pixels. It's going to go two ways: either it will be great or it will fail. I hope non-gamers will give it a chance. I hope that people see that we're people, we're cool. We have cool jobs and we have unique lives. I hope that's revealed. May 17 Gears of War MultiplayerCrouched behind the burnt shell of an old sedan, I was hiding for my life. Around me, my teammates were being slowly eliminated one by one by COG forces. Peaking over the hood of the car, I was able to lay down just a second of suppressing fire before a COG soldier popped up and started suppressing me. Bang. All three of my teammates are dead, and two COG soldiers are darting in and out of cover, honing in on me. I see one going for high ground and a rocket launcher. I switch to my sniper rifle and zoom in on the second story of a building a hundred feet away. Then his little human head pops into view and I put a bullet in it. Now it's me, an evil Locust foot soldier, against some other guy on the local area network, the hero of Gears of War, Marcus of the COG. Before I can celebrate my kill and look for my last enemy, I hear the most dreaded sound in Gears multiplayer: the chainsaw. While I was busy sniping, this guy had zipped in and out of cover and circled around me. My own blood spattered about as my Locust soldier fell to the ground dead.
May 11 GR:AW (PC) Patch No.1The first patch for GR:AW has been released taking it to version 1.06.
Download the Boxed Retail version 1.06 here. May 05 GRAW (360) downloadable content Coming soon !!Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, today announces that the first ever glimpse of the upcoming downloadable content package for the Xbox 360 version of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ will be unveiled exclusively at the Dodge booth at this year’s E3! Not only will gamers get their first viewing of this upcoming content package, but a trip to the Dodge booth will offer a chance to play it first-hand! Check below for a quick rundown of the details, time and location of this world exclusive unveiling. More official news regarding the downloadable content package for Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter™ for the Xbox 360 will be available soon.
DODGE BOOTH LOCATION AND TIMES: The Dodge booth at E3 is located in the West Lobby, Booth number F5. The times that the upcoming DLC will be showcased and or playable are as follows: Wednesday – 5.10 -11am – 6pm Thursday – 5.11 -9am – 12pm -3pm - 6pm Friday 5.12 -Available all day at varying times
Crysis..... AKA, I need to upgrade my PC.Crytek broke onto the scene in 2003 when Far Cry began rearing it's toothy head and solidified its place in the development community upon a successful release of that title in 2004. In short, it was an awesome game. While it didn't have quite the variety of a Half-Life 2, it provided one of the most intense pure shooter experiences we've come across in some time. It was difficult and the story was bad, but man was it fun! Since that Spring, we'd been eagerly awaiting news of Crytek's return to glory and got it this January when Crytek and publisher EA announced Crysis.
Hope you guys like the Cowboy Bebop song May 02 Brothers In Arms: Hells HighwayAt Ubisoft's pre-E3 event we got a first look at Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which is the next chapter in the World War II-based franchise. Sure WWII shooters have been done before, but Brothers in Arms emphasized tactical strategy over reckless run and gun shooting using primary and secondary teams to eliminate threats. However, Hell's Highway isn't an expansion pack to the previous games; Gearbox has revamped a number of features that helped define the series thanks to the power of the next generation consoles and PCs.
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it's one of my favorite japanese anime.|
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